Minecraft Family Server

Minecraft is an amazing game and everyone in the family has played it from time to time. At the moment the family members most enjoying it are Girl and Boy. They’ve been playing in creation mode and done amazing things for a 7 and 10 year old. They were however each playing their own game and nothing they created could be shared or improved upon by the other, except by taking over the saved game which can be touchy between siblings. Then we got the idea of setting up our own MineCraft family server letting everyone in the family be able to join the game and together create something much greater than each of us on our own could.

You can easily download a Minecraft server from minecraft.net and just run an exe file to start a server and begin playing. The default setup however requires you to log into your Minecraft account to verify your legitimacy which in it self is not a problem since we’ve of course bought the game (and if you haven’t do it now) but we have not bought 5 licenses and think that shouldn’t be necessary and it isn’t if you can find out what to do.

So to help other families out who want to set up a local server for the family to play together I’ve decided to put up a step by step guide for those that want to do that. Note that this is just a basic very simple setup that does exactly that.

Step 2:
Put the Minecraft_Server.exe file in it’s own folder wherever you want (ie. FamilyMinecraft on the desktop) and run it.
This step creates all the basic files needed for the server.

Step 3:
Turn off the server that was run in Step 2 (either by typing stop in the command field or using the red x).

Step 4:Go to the folder you created and find the file server.properties and open it with a text editor
Change the following lines and save:

oneline-mode=true to online-mode=false

gamemode=0 to gamemode=1 (NOTE! if you don’t want to play in create mode don’t change this line)

Step 5:
Run the Minecraft_Server.exe file again to start the server which is now a local server in create mode.

Step 6:Run Minecraft as normally and select multiplayer instead of singleplayer
When in the multiplayer menu choose to add server:

Sever Name: Choose whatever name you want.

Server address: Since this is a local-lan server you should be able to use the network name of the computer where you ran the Minecraft_server.exe

To find the network name got to Explorer (WindowsButton+E) Right click on computer on the left menu and select properties. This should take you to the System control panel and you should be able to find the computer name there

Press Done

Now you can select the server from the Minecraft multiplayer menu and join the server.

With this setup you should be able to play a two player game without any problems by logging in normally on one computer and play “offline” on another.
That way one of the players will have your normal account name and the other the name “Player”.

The Basic setup works for two players but a problem rises when you want to have more players since from now on additional players cause those that are in the game before them to be thrown out (“Player” if you’re offline and the other if your logged in).

Step 2:
Create a new Minecraft shortcut (right click Minecraft.exe and select create shortcut) and put it where you want.

Step 3:
Rigth click the new shortcut and select Properties.

Step 4:In the target field you replace the current text with the following:java -Xms512m -Xmx512m -cp “%APPDATA%/.minecraft/bin/*” -Djava.library.path=”%APPDATA%/.minecraft/bin/natives” net.minecraft.client.Minecraft “Dad”Replace Dad with whatever name you would like your character you have. We’ve created 5 shortcuts (one for each member of the family).

Step 5:
Run the new shortcut you just created, Minecraft will run and you can go to multiplayer as before (add server on the new computer as before in Basic step 6 if you need to) and you should arrive at the game with your chosen name.

This way the whole family can create a world together in Minecraft or if you prefer keep gamemode as 0 and fight of the hordes of darkness together.
Have Fun

“The name ‘java’ specified in the Target box is not valid. Make sure the path and file name are correct.

I made sure there are no blanks or other hidden characters in the target field.
java -Xms512m -Xmx512m -cp “%APPDATA%/.minecraft/bin/*” -Djava.library.path=”%APPDATA%/.minecraft/bin/natives” net.minecraft.client.Minecraft “Dad”

I keep getting a java error on step 6 of the first procedure, java.lang.illegalargumentexception. I am using a desktop that is connected to the local network wirelessly. I would appreciate any help to resolve. ~MrNoToes

Hi Dad. I am able to create a world and play in create mode. What is the syntax for the server name? the folder is on a folder at “C:\Minecraft” and my computer name is “Howard,” and the name of the wireless network is “Workgroup.” I installed Java already. I am running Windows Vista SP2. Could the problem be because I am using a wireless adapter on this computer? However, I get this error on this computer, it should not have to access the network. Thank you.

If you can’t find the server from a different PC on your lan my best guess is that firewall settings on the server machine are blocking minecraft from broadcasting it’s position. You might need to change the firewall settings and give minecraft extended rights.

Thanks for the directions. Everything works great with setting up server and connecting from the same Windows machine. When I try to connect from my mac, it can’t seem to find the server. Do you have any advice?

Most likely reason for not finding the server from another machine on your home network is that the firewall settings on the server are too restrictive.
I’d recommend temporarily disabling the firewall to verify that is the case and then turn the firewall back on and adjust the rules for it to allow discovery of the minecraft server.

I’m having the same problem. What specifically is the shortcut looking for, so I can tweak it? My minecraft install is in I:\games\minecraft, but there is also a c:\users\name\appdata\roaming\.minecraft directory. There isn’t a \bin under that directory though, so I’m having some trouble reverse engineering the syntax